Aurora Central Catholic spotted Guerin a 18-0 halftime lead Friday night at Holy Cross Field in River Grove. The Chargers battled back in the second half, scoring twice, but it was not enough as the Chargers dropped their second consecutive contest 18-15. With the loss, the Chargers drop to 3-3 on the season, and 1-2 in the Suburban Christian Gold Division.
After both teams exchanged punts to open the game, Guerin struck first with a 34 yard touchdown pass to take a 6-0 lead after one quarter. Guerin would add two more scores in the second, as Gator quarterback Tom Kelly connected with John Dabe and Matt DeLeon for touchdowns of 34 and 3 yards respectively.
“We continue to play ourselves into holes as a football team,” ACC Head Coach Brian Casey said. “This is one area where we have not improved in this season. We are not good enough to simply show up and defeat teams, we are not at that level yet.”
The Chargers responded in the second half, scoring on their first two possessions. Luke Dickerson (Sugar Grove) capped an 8 play 63 yard drive with a 23 yard touchdown run. Kyle Clechenko (St. Charles) rushed for a 57 yard score on the Chargers next possession.
Both teams failed to successfully move the ball for the rest of the evening. The Chargers got the ball back to the Guerin 30 yard line, but failed to convert on fourth down midway through the fourth quarter.
“3 scores is a lot to overcome in 24 minutes,” Casey said. “We have yet to play a full 48 minute football game this season, and we are in a spot right now where it is starting to cost us. We played with more excitment and emotion in the second half, but if we can’t do that for a full game, we are going to continue to struggle taking that next step as a program.”
With three weeks left in the season, the Chargers need two more wins to become eligible for the IHSA State Playoffs, and three wins to clinch a spot in the postseason. Up next for ACC, the Chargers travel to Melrose Park to take on Walther Lutheran on Saturday.
“We need to strip everything down, and get back to playing good football this weekend,” Casey said. “We can not do anything about what happened Friday anymore. We need to take it one game at a time, and let everything else sort itself out. Right now Walther Lutheran is the more important game of our season!”
The sophomores will kick off at 10:45 a.m., with the Varsity getting underway at 1:00 p.m.
